The present invention relates to a surgical device having a clipping instrument to be inserted through a forceps channel of an endoscope for in vivo hemostasis and marking operations.
Generally, in an endoscopic surgical device, a clipping instrument is arranged at a distal end of a flexible sheath, which is inserted through a forceps channel of an endoscope, with a clip thereof being closed. The clipping instrument is designed such that as an operating wire being detachably connected to the clip, axially movable in the flexible sheath, is forwarded, the clip is protruded accordingly from the distal end of the flexible sheath and opens like a pair of pincers.
Further, the clip is forcibly closed by an operation through the operating wire to clutch onto body tissue and detached therein from the operating wire to be left clutched during the surgery. Thus, an endoscopic clipping operation is conducted.
However, retracting the clipping instrument out of the forceps channel and reattaching a new clip to the operating wire each time the clip is detached can be troublesome. Therefore, a clipping instrument having a plurality of clips aligned in line inside the flexible sheath is provided so that the clipping operations can be successively conducted without retracting the clipping instrument out of the forceps channel. Such a clipping instrument is disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2006-87537, for example.
In the above referenced publication, a distal end of an inserted portion of the endoscope is provided with a bendable portion, which can be bended in an arbitrary angle through a remote operation, and the forceps channel to penetrate through the bendable portion is provided so that the clipping instrument can be inserted therethrough.
In this configuration, when the bendable portion is bended at a large angle with a small curvature radius, the clipping instrument is bended at the same angle accordingly. FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional side view of a conventional clipping instrument being bended inside the flexible sheath of an endoscope. As shown in FIG. 9, the clipping instrument can be strained, and each clip 92 aligned in line inside the flexible sheath 91 can be deformed to an excessive extent and damaged.